Crossword clues for bunkum
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Buncombe \Bun"combe\, Bunkum \Bun"kum\, n. [Buncombe a county of North Carolina.] Speech-making for the gratification of constituents, or to gain public applause; flattering talk for a selfish purpose; anything said for mere show. [Cant or Slang, U.S.]
All that flourish about right of search was bunkum --
all that brag about hanging your Canada sheriff was
bunkum . . . slavery speeches are all bunkum.
--Haliburton.
To speak for Buncombe, to speak for mere show, or popularly.
Note: ``The phrase originated near the close of the debate on
the famous `Missouri Question,' in the 16th Congress.
It was then used by Felix Walker -- a na["i]ve old
mountaineer, who resided at Waynesville, in Haywood,
the most western country of North Carolina, near the
border of the adjacent county of Buncombe, which formed
part of his district. The old man rose to speak, while
the house was impatiently calling for the `Question,'
and several members gathered round him, begging him to
desist. He preserved, however, for a while, declaring
that the people of his district expected it, and that
he was bound to `make a speech for Buncombe.'''
--W.
Darlington.
[1913 Webster] ||
Bunkum \Bun"kum\, n. See Buncombe.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
variant of Buncombe.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (cx slang English) Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense (countable). 2 (cx Washington, DC English) Any bombastic political posturing or an oratorical display not accompanied by conviction; speechmaking designed for show or public applause. (1820s)
WordNet
Wikipedia
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Usage examples of "bunkum".
But it would be as dangerous to rely on him to expose all the quacks, humbugs and bunkum in the world as it would be to believe those same charlatans.
Why would men of science, like Dylan McCaffrey and Wilhelm Hoffritz, associate with a purveyor of bat shit and bunkum?
I said it sounded bunkum, and rang off just as Mike Meakin of wranglers came through to say that all hell had broken out on the Czech air: half of it was coded, but the other half was en clair.
His focus had been entirely on the captain's argument with the officious clerk, and he'd dismissed the statement as just another of the captain's Niagara Falls of balderdash and bunkum.